"And isn't it weird? If we had some kind of bond, why don't you remember me?"
The creature stared at her for a moment before replying, voice calm. "We have a spirit contract. I'm bound to your soul."
Inés frowned. "Okay… then?"
"Your injury damaged your soul—and since I'm tied to you, it affected me too. I can't remember my past life either. I lost at least ninety percent of my power. My memory isn't as wrecked as yours, but it's still fragmented. I remember who I am—kind of. Bits and pieces. Not the whole picture."
He lost nintey percent of his power but was able to bring her soul to this place when she died? Just how monstrous was this guy Ines thought to herself before responding.
"So we're both sitting ducks?"
Nyxiris gave a lazy shrug. "More or less."
"Enough of the chit-chat. Try and figure out a way to get us out of this place." Nyxiris spoke in a commanding tone.
"Get us out of here?" Inés echoed, eyes narrowing. "Do you think I'd still be stuck in this miserable place if I could leave on my own? Since you're so capable, why don't you give it a go, oh mighty corpse?"
"Hmph. Truly useless!" the little creature huffed with disdain.
Inés could hardly believe her ears. He was in the same predicament as her, yet had the nerve to act like she was the useless one?
He even had the audacity to look down on her—from her own shoulder!
"Hahaha." Inés let out a low, angry laugh before grabbing Nyxiris by the throat and lifting him up. "Let's see if you're still so chatty now."
"Keh! Let me go, you wretched woman!!!" Nyxiris thrashed wildly in her grip.
"Aren't you here too?" Inés spoke. "If you had any real ability, wouldn't we both be alive and well? What kind of useless pet are you?"
"Pet?! You're really daring, ah!" Nyxiris sputtered. "If it were only me, would I be in this wretched situation at all? You dragged me down with your miserable luck! I would've been perfectly alive and well without you!"
"Hah!! For all I know you could've been the one to get us killed! it doesn't make sense for me to be so horribly defeated in the first place!
"You're still on that?!!" Nyxiris screeched. "Just accept it! You were defeated! You were defeated!"
Inés now had two hands around his neck.
"Hah! Go and die!
Just as her grip tightened, a loud screeching noise rang out through the void.
"What the hell was that?" they both said at the same time.
Nyxiris body dangling in her grip.
The entire space began to tremble as if it were alive and furious.
Nyxiris's expression turned serious for the first time. "Somethings wrong."
Ines nodded she could also pick up on this much. She got such an eerie feeling all of a sudden.
"I have to use the last bit of my power to get you out of here," he said quickly. "I'll be in a deep sleep for a little while, so don't die while I'm gone. Wait for me to come back."
So he could've gotten us out the whole time! Because of the situation she decided to keep this to herself.
Inés didn't even have time to respond before a string of purple light burst from Nyxiris's body, slicing through the void like lightning. The rip it created tore open the darkness, and a flood of radiant white light poured out.
"Now go!" he shouted, just before his form dissolved into a streak of mystical violet flame that shot straight into her forehead.
What Inés couldn't see was the mark that briefly appeared—an ethereal purple flame symbol dancing in the center of her brow before vanishing.
The air shifted violently.
An ominous chill slithered down her spine as if something—no, many things—had just opened their eyes. The void itself was now watching her. Not just one gaze, but hundreds… thousands. They pressed down on her, heavy, suffocating, malicious.
Only now, after Nyxiris had disappeared, did they dare reveal themselves.
Every fiber of her being screamed run.
Without hesitation, she bolted toward the tear in space—the only source of light.
But before she could reach it, shadows surged from the edges of the void like a tidal wave. Countless hands shot out, writhing and clawing, desperate to pull her back into the abyss.
A cacophony of overlapping voices rang out from the darkness, dissonant and maddening:
"Calamity! You'll bring calamity!"
"Cursed blood must not escape!"
"She cannot leave! Her bloodline must not survive!"
The voices twisted into a shrill chant, growing louder and more urgent, stabbing into her mind like knives.
Inés's heart raced. She was genuinely freaked out now.
"Shit! So unlucky!" she spat, eyes locking on the light just within reach.
She lunged forward, but the hands around her tightened, icy and merciless. They dug into her spirit, dragging her back with a strength that felt endless.
Just as she thought it was over—
A blinding flash tore through the shadows.
A pair of hands shot out from the light, grabbed her, and yanked her through.
The darkness screamed in fury as she crossed the threshold. Their screeches echoed in her ears like a dying chorus of the damned.
Then—silence.
And Inés collapsed into unconsciousness.